Posted by Philippe Callier on December 12, 1998 at 17:38:39:
In Reply to: Re: Kakihan ("written seal, signature") posted by John Fiorillo on December 12, 1998 at 17:19:50:
: Follow-up from JF:
: Hello, Philippe,
: In reference to your statement:
: "… in his signature, Toyokuni used his full name, Utagawa Toyokuni, which he did rather rarely; … I believe that Toyokuni's print is an early work (there is no censor seal to date it). ...",
: The earliest example of an "Utagawa Toyokuni" signature that I know of is 11/1852, not especially "early" as Toyokuni began publishing prints in 1809 (as "Kunisada") and began signing as "Toyokuni" in 1844 (as "Kunisada aratame nidaime Ichiyôsai Toyokuni ga," meaning "drawn by Kunisada changing his name to the second of the name Ichiyôsai Toyokuni"). There is a theory, by the way, proposed by Lawrence Bickford (a sumo print specialist) that Kunisada used the name "nidai Ichiyôsai Toyokuni" (that is, "the second Ichiyôsai Toyokuni") as early as 1828, but that theory and its circumstantial evidence is not widely accepted.
John:
Thanks for the quick feed-back. But there is a misunderstanding. I am talking about Toyokuni I (I am refering to one of the prints mentionned in my question of Dec. 6 that initiated this long and interesting exchange- many thanks for your contributions !). I know of three other prints with the signature Utagawa Toyokuni: the print in the Tokyo National Museum (and also in the Art Institute of Chicago)representing the Actor Sawamura Sojuro III as Oboshi Yuranosuke, dated c.1796, and bearing a signature of exactly the same style as the one in the print I referred to in my previous pieces; and two prints representing a temple, with western inspired perspective effects very much in the style of Toyoharu, reproduced in the book (in Japanese) issued to commemorate Toyokuni I on the centenial of his death.
Regards,
Philippe